Continuous, high-precision temperature measurements under the extreme conditions of the polar regions are the aim of a new borehole measurement system, now funded by the European Union as an ERC Proof of Concept Grant with 150,000 euros for 1.5 years.
“We aim to record temperature in ice and permafrost boreholes with millikelvin precision, in order to monitor global climate warming more accurately and comprehensively than before,” says Prof Dr Thomas Laepple from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI). He and his team developed a prototype of the measuring system called HIP-Bore (High-Precision Continuous Polar Borehole Temperature Monitoring System) as part of the EU project SPACE, which concluded in 2024. This first prototype has been providing daily temperature data from a depth of 200 metres at the AWI's Kohnen Station on the Antarctic ice sheet since January 2024. "HIP-Bore closes a critical gap in climate monitoring," says Thomas Laepple. "Continuous subsurface measurements are still largely lacking in Antarctica. The preliminary results are alarming: they show a significant warming of the mean temperature in recent decades, which can be reconstructed from the temperature profile - as well as an extreme heatwave in 2024, whose warmth penetrated deep into the snowpack.
With the ERC funding, the system will now be further developed technically and prepared for future commercialization. Additional field tests are planned in Svalbard, Canada, and other locations in Antarctica. The goal is to establish HIP-Bore as a standard tool for monitoring climate change in the polar regions. Project leader Thomas Laepple explains: “Climate change is progressing rapidly—especially in the polar regions. Yet continuous subsurface temperature data is still lacking in these areas, which is essential to accurately assess the response of ice sheets and permafrost to global warming and to improve climate reconstructions. HIP-Bore addresses this gap and provides a crucial foundation for better forecasting the future of the polar regions.”